Aragawa, Tokyo

Despite multiple trips to Japan and my love for steaks, I have never been to a Japanese steakhouse before this. I attribute it mainly to me prioritizing other places with more interesting looking dishes and my habit of returning to familiar places.

This time round, I forced myself to visit new places and hence Aragawa.

The decor of the place is classy but very old. Red velvet everywhere with sturdy wooden tables.

We were then presented with the menu, which was very simple. We ordered the smoked salmon and the prawn cocktail, to be shared between two and of course steak as well. The steak menu here is split into two types of beef: Kobe beef that's raised for 36 months and Omi beef that's raised for 46 months. You then pick between 3 sizes: 400g, 500g or 600g.

If you're familiar with Wagyu, you'll notice that these are way longer than the usual 7-10 months. This is because it is generally believed that raising cows for a longer period leads to tougher meat which is not as desirable. My only encounter with beef that's raised for so long was at Florilege with their 'Sustainability' dish of a thin carpaccio of raw beef from cows that are way past the 10 month old mark. That dish was unremarkable at worst, gimmicky at best. It's not that the meat wasnt flavourful it was more of the choice of seasonings to go with it.

We eventually went for the 500g Omi beef steak and the course started with appetizers.

Before serving the appetizers, they showed us the raw steak that was about to be cooked.

Then came the appetizers.

It was nice that it came individually plated like this!

After the appetizers then came the star of the night.

They then took it back to the kitchen to plate it individually. It was plated with truffled mashed potatoes, carrots and peas. Simple works best sometimes.

It was then with great anticipation that we tucked in. That meat was so tender, not overwhelmingly fatty that the only thing preventing you from eating more is stomach space. Usually with wagyu you cannot eat more than 100-150g of it as it becomes too rich for the tastes, but here it is a perfect balance of texture, firmness and fat level. It is a balance which no other piece of meat I've had before has.

Just look at that.

Whether the cost of the steak is worth it or not is entirely subjective. But fact is, I have not come across any steak as good as this. How much you're willing to pay for that (perhaps marginal, but huge to me) difference is subjective.

Aragawa, Tokyo

1st Visit, 6th May 2023